Communicating corporate social responsibility: a study of the evolution of websites disclosures in Italy

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to analyse how the use of the Internet for social disclosure is changed over time. The paper presents a dynamic analysis on a sample of Italian companies that at the beginning of the observation period were listed on the Italian Exchange. The present use of the Internet for CSR-related communication of sample companies is analysed and compared to their mode of using this medium in 2003. Results highlight a growing and widespread diffusion of the use of the Internet for social disclosures, as well as an improvement in the mode of using this medium and in the consequent capability to exploit the potential benefits that it offers. Nevertheless, relevant differences still characterize the sample companies’ approaches to social disclosure, as regards both the kind of information disclosed (and the corresponding level of transparency) and the use of two-way communication tools.